Search This Blog

My posts come from my personal daily scripture readings and a part of my personal accountability. If we are going to grow as followers of Christ, we must be in the Word! If you miss these a few days, something has kept me from it; but if they're gone for too many days, call me on the carpet. We need to hold one another accountable. Join me on this journey as our lives are to Reflect the Image-and Jesus IS the image. Peace, Carla Sunberg

Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Speaking with Boldness

Acts 4:24 When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, Acts 4:25 it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? Acts 4:26 The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’ Acts 4:27 For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, Acts 4:28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, Acts 4:30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Acts 4:31 When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. Observation:

It was in Acts 2 that we had previously found the whole group of Jesus’ disciples together and praying when the Holy Spirit came on them on the day of Pentecost. Now, we find them together again and this time their prayer is recorded for us. It is here that they express to the Lord that there is opposition to their ministry, an opposition that includes persecution, and yet, their prayer is not for personal protection nor is it for punishment of those who may “rage” against them. These believers pray that in the midst of the threats they might be able to speak with boldness.

Their prayer was answered and it is believed that they literally experienced an earthquake as their prayer meeting came to a close, and they were strengthened and filled again with the Holy Spirit. They were able to leave the prayer meeting, facing threats and speaking boldly.Application:

As I think about this prayer of Jesus’ disciples I am humbled. If I had been there, what would I have been praying for? After the day of Pentecost and the power of the Holy Spirit they were experiencing wouldn’t you have wanted to pray down fire from heaven on those who simply would not believe? Wouldn’t you have wanted personal protection? But something else is happening here in the lives of the disciples. As they are being filled with the Holy Spirit they are not only receiving power, but they are being transformed. Through the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives they are being united to God, and the very nature of God is filling every part of their being. No longer are they thinking like themselves, but they are taking on the very mind of Christ and now his desires become their desires. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Their “enemies” are the “lost.” There is a shift in their thinking and no longer are they concerned about their own fate, but they are concerned for the fate of their enemies. Now, they want to speak with boldness in response to the threats.

God answered their prayer because their prayer came from the depths of a personal relationship with God. The people had been willing to tarry in prayer until the Holy Spirit had infused every part of their being. When God’s heart becomes our heart; when his desires become our desires; then his transformational work is being done in our lives and our responses become his responses to the challenges of life.

So often people emphasize the presence of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and its accompanying signs and wonders. We think it’s more exciting to think about the signs and wonders and what those might look like in our lives than to focus on this infilling of the Holy Spirit. We don’t like to think about facing our adversaries with boldness. Maybe we ought to take a harder look at this prayer meeting and the way in which the disciples were becoming more like Christ and their love for their enemies gave them a boldness to go into the world, sharing Jesus with those who would seek to harm them. This same Holy Spirit is available to us today — and challenges us to pray to speak with boldness.

Prayer:

Lord, may I speak with boldness today. Amen.

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+

Email

Other Apps

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scripture:
Psalms 127:1
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain. Observation:
There is a foundation to the house of this life, and that must be the Lord. Application:
I think it started this week when we got off the plane in Boise. A flood of memories began to overwhelm me as I reminisced about the way that things used to be. Many years ago, when we were living in Russia, we would come back home to the United States on furlough, and that always meant coming to Boise, Idaho. My parents were living here and had built a home with two guest rooms that we would call “home” for three months. Exiting the security area at the airport, my parents were always there, waiting with expectant smiles, for us to finally arrive. I can see my mom, clapping her hands, with a grin from ear to ear, just waiting to wrap her arms around every one of us. This week, I glanced at the waiting area as we exited the security …

Scripture:Phil. 4:10 I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. 11 Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 14 In any case, it was kind of you to share my distress. Phil. 4:15 You Philippians indeed know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone. 16 For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs more than once. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that accumulates to your account. 18 I have been paid in full and have more than …

Scripture:Proverbs 21:17Whoever loves pleasure will suffer want; whoever loves wine and oil will not be rich. Observation:
Some have said that this verse speaks of the dangers of an Epicurean life-style. What does that mean? Generally we have attributed this to the teaching of Epicurus, a philosopher who was born in 341 BC. He encouraged people to find a static state of pleasure where one was satiated — or full. When the pleasures have been completely, or entirely satisfied, then one feels full. Later Epicurean societies adopted a motto: Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo ("I was not; I was; I am not; I do not care”). In contemporary society this phrase has been adopted to be used at humanist funerals, or to be carved as an epitaph on a headstone.
The problem is that they don’t understand what Wisdom was trying to say. Pleasure alone would ultimately leave one wanting. The Epicurean life of rich foods and drink, as well as the investment in oils and cosmetics could not be sustained. T…

I am a woman called to preach the Gospel of Jesus. I am passionate about the deeper walk with Jesus Christ, and the fact that we should be willing to move on to a place where the Lord can help us to be World Changers!